Thursday, January 31, 2008

That's right, I've been finishing stuff up like a good little knitter.

First off, I finished spinning the rest of the Electric Sheep fiber, and plied it. When I finished I noticed that something was wrong. I figured that somehow I forgot to reverse directions when plying and needed to ply the other way. Nope. I managed to spin each single in opposite directions. Yeah, so I'm still deciding what to do with it. In the meantime I started spinning some superwash bfl from Pigeonroof. I'd like socks this time around.

I also finished the other sock for the sock club, but yet again I can't show you that. And I finished the thumb to my mitten. So I'm excited about that, and want to start another pair. For now I'm focusing on finishing some other stuff. Like these socks I started:This is the yarn from the Socks that Rock club. And in the pattern they sent. It's hard to see it I know. It's doing a spirally thing with the colors, and the pattern looks bunched up b/c there is lace in there. I really like it though, it's fun to knit.

Today I got my January shipment for the Funky Carolina fiber club. It's five ounces of south african fine roving in the color Confetti. She wrote that she used 12 different colors for this one! It looks like it will spin up awesome.My brother's hat dried and I got Chad to model it. I think it came out a good size. Bigger than I thought, at least it covers his ears. My brother has lots of hair though, so we'll see how it works for him.Ok then, that's it for now, it's almost bedtime for some cranky kids...

Tuesday, January 29, 2008

In sight but not quite there yet. I've got so many things I'm close to being done with that it's not funny. One thing I did finish FINALLY is my brother's hat. Here are a few pics...it's still drying so no modeled shot yet. Here is a picture of it in the water soaking. See how the water is blue? That was about ten seconds after I put the hat in there. Trust me it got darker. Regardless, I think it came out ok and my brother will like it, provided it fits. I ran out of yarn and had to make it a bit smaller than I wanted. We'll see when he gets it.Seeeee, two mittens! What you don't see, is the right one is still missing a thumb. I could have done it today but I put it off in favor of doing other things. Like going through my Selbuvotter book trying to decide which ones to do next. ;) Either way I absolutely adore these and am thrilled with how they came out.I'm also almost done with my socks for the Keegan Lane Yarns sock club. It's such an easy, fast and addicting pattern. I'm already planning to make more after this pair. I will be glad though to have these done, I want to wear them!

The other thing is I spun most of the second half of my Electric Sheep November fiber. Remember the blue/black/white/gray wool? Yep that one. I'll probably finish it and ply tomorrow. And then pictures! I'm not sure what I'll do with it, maybe sell it in my etsy shop. I'm needing to put something in there! I need to do some stitch markers too...

Well I never did make it to the Knit Group on Sunday. I didn't make it to work either, or on Monday or today. We got so much snow it's not even funny. My boss sure didn't think it was funny but honestly. I live 20 miles out in the middle of cow country. We got like 3 feet of snow, and I have a Scion xb, and a civic hatchback. Our roads didn't get plowed for two days, and only today they finally did the dirt road. The scion actually did ok yesterday and today but honestly Chad's job is more important than mine, in that he makes more, has been there longer, works full time. So I let him take the car. Yep, boss man was NOT happy. There was nothing I could do though. They haven't fired me but he wants to "talk" about it. When I called in for Monday, he's like well can't your husband drop you off on his way in? I told him that Chad doesn't work for another two hours, and then I only work until ten and would have no way home. He didn't think that was an acceptable answer...

Anyway we are due for more snow tonight, and tomorrow night and Thursday. So it's a good thing I don't work again this week or I'd be really pissing them off. Seriously though, this is the first time in 15 years we've gotten this much snow, schools are closed for the first time in 12 years, they are telling people not to go out unless it's an emergency, and I'm a little pissed that they were mad at me for not making it in! Seriously??? In Idaho they ordered people to stay off the roads. Not just a "try to stay in" thing, just DON'T. Anyway I'm a bit steamed up about that. Especially since I called the night before, both times and told them there was a 95% chance I wouldn't make it. They were completely unconcerned! Ok ok I'm done, I'm sure I'll get the chance to "express myself" about it.

Wanna see what I'm talking about though? Here are some snow pictures. This first one is our truck that doesn't run so well and it's parked on the lawn but still, it shows how much we got!Some neat tree pictures. The snow really weighs on them, we had some break already.And this is looking down the driveway. Well one of the two driveways. We don't use this one as much in the winter since it's going down a hill and then you have to go back up a hill on the road. Our other one cuts straight through the edge of our property through to the road and is better in the winter.So yep, the last three days have been kinda nice in that I've just mostly sat around knitting and spinning and cuddling/playing/herding the kids. Makes me wish sometimes that I lived back in the day, simpler times. Perhaps not easier, but I think it would be less stressful. I'm one of those women who like being at home with the kids, and wish I never had to get a job. Sure I need to get out of the house. I just think that the more advanced society gets, the more complicated life is. I could deal with just staying home and cooking, sewing, knitting, cleaning. I could deal with the cleaning if I didn't have to worry about school and work and such...

Saturday, January 26, 2008

Yes that's right, my package came today! Chad was a bit bored waiting on a friend to go up to the mountain snowboarding, so he decided to go to the post office. They are only open until 10am on Saturdays so most of the time we don't bother. Well he got home and tried to pretend it wasn't my package! But then he gave me a sideways look and grinned so I knew it was. I remember squealing and running over to rip it open. I love love love it! Here are pics of the yarn and pattern. The pattern is hard to see, it has a lace pattern to it.

The yarn is called Dragon Dance and is a pretty combination of red, rust, and an orangy peach color. I love it and the name is awesome. I am not thrilled with the pattern but it does show off the yarn nicely which is what I'd want to do anyway. So I will knit the pattern with this yarn anyway.I have found that whenever I have to do something in a certain amount of time, that even if it's something I want to do, I will often put it off. I had a bit of a personal deadline for myself. To try and finish my second selbu spider mitt. Well yesterday I procrastinated all day and didn't finish the thumb of the first one until late last night. Then today I decided I would knit other things...like my forest canopy and my brother's hat. It's not a huge deal but I was like...what the heck???

Anyway the forest canopy makes for fast easy knitting while herding the children, and I really owe my brother this hat. It's almost done though finally! I sucked it up and have been doing it for the last week. Today I found myself finally at 4.5 inches, and realized that that's where I started the decreases on the one I did for my brother-in-law. So I happily found the stitch markers to mark the decreases, and started in! I have barely put it down. The hat as is would fit me now, but I have a small head, so it needs a bit more length. I remember I changed the decreases on the first one as well. I am using this pattern and while I like it, when I knit the first one, it came out kinda pointy at the top by decreasing that long. So I'm trying to decide how to do this one. No matter, it will be done soon and he's excited to get it.I have to wash it tonight so it will dry in time to go out on Monday. Why you ask, must I wash it? This is why:Ok so it's hard to see, but there are blue stained lines around my finger where I wrap the yarn. Yes the dye is coming out a bit. That and the needles are now stained. Sigh...Today it is snowing and has been for hours now. Ok this picture sucks too, but it's the best I could get. The snow is making it blurry. We've had really cold days here the last week, but sunny. So now we get more snow. At least Chad is happy because it means better snow and mountain conditions for snowboarding...Well my dears, that is all for today. I'm going to go finish that darn hat and then at least start my second mitt. I'll be taking it with me to the next knit group which is tomorrow. Let's see if I can remember my camera this time! We are meeting at Borders at 10-10:30ish which is great since I work right next to Borders and finish work at 10! Woohoo!

Friday, January 25, 2008

For my sock club package! I know lots of people have gotten theirs so I was hoping today would be the day. No such luck. I did get a few other fun things though.

First off is a pair of Serendipity needles that I won from last month's contest over at the Sock Stash Elimination Campaign. They are super cute, and the paint is sparkly!Then I got my January Electric Sheep fiber club shipment. It's 4 ounces of bfl in the color London Fog. I love this one, it's super soft and fluffy and should be nice to spin.Lastly I got some yarn I traded for on Ravelry. Two skeins of Cherry Tree Hill. One in Enchantment and one in Jelly Bean Jumble. I know yes, I already have the Enchantment, but it's for the Charlotte's Web Shawl and I just loved this color so much. I hunted down someone else who had it and begged. She also let me have the Jelly Bean one which I really like too. It's fun and bright and I can't wait to see what it's like knit.I finished the hand of my mitten last night so here's a pic. I have to do the thumb and then hurry and start the second one! I only have until tomorrow to finish these if I want to wear them Sunday. Can I do it??? Yes I can!!! Well, hopefully. ;)Just to let everyone know, I'm feeling tons better today and less mopey than yesterday lol. The sunshine and some new intentions/resolutions/plans/goals/ideas have given me a boost. Now I'm off to do some laundry (gag) and knit (yay!).

Thursday, January 24, 2008

Ok so now I'm just a little bit obsessed. I was good and finished the thumb on the little mitten. It barely fits either one of my kids. That's what I get for dropping half a size on the needles. SO now I'll have to make another pair, but I really don't mind. This is so fun! Either way, here in eastern Washington it has been Freezing. So I decided that I'm going to have mittens first, since I'm the one getting up at 4am to get ready and go to work, while they all get to sleep nice and warm in their beds. The kids really don't go out much, and they wear their snow gloves when they play out. So. ME FIRST lol. Here are a few cruddy pics. The flash makes the pink look white so the first pic I took without flash.I'm really liking these so far. They fit perfectly around my wrist, but are a tad tight on the hands. I think that is my fault. I will try blocking/steaming/whatever and see if I can loosen them up a bit. I'm sure they will be fine. I've got another half a star pattern done past that, and am loving it so much.

I'm already trying to decide which design to make with my red and white. Perhaps those ones with the gauntlets? And if I have enough, I'm going to make Alexis some white and pink. And maybe Nick's will be the red and black. Unless I get more yarn before that. I don't know how much I'll have left, but I think it will be enough for their sizes. They sure don't use much. The first mitten only weighs 12 grams total, and I know from weighing the light green before hand that I used 6 grams of it. So the other six is the CTH. I know it will be a bit more in a bigger size, but seriously. That's nothin.

So I've caught the fair isle Norwegian mitten bug, and I seem to be doing ok with it. It's really not so bad. Now if I could only get past my intarsia fear...

I heard that the first shipment for the STR sock club is mailed, and should be here, by Monday I think. They mail Priority. So that's on the way. My January Electric Sheep club fiber is on the way. And I have my Funky Carolina shipment for this month also to look forward to. Very exciting things. Not to mention that I'm also in Melissa'ssock club. Which is for March-May. Think I'm in over my head yet? And there are only five spots left on the KLY club. JOIN. I've only seen my yarn and the socks I've designed. But, I loved the yarn and of course I love my socks, and so did the test knitters. Melissa has some fun things planned for the shipments. So go get a spot before they are gone.

I haven't done any dyeing lately. I'm having a tough time even finding knitting time. I've been kinda worn out and I get that seasonal depression so some days are a challenge. I forget a lot, and that can be bad when it comes to school and bills...

Anyway the point is, I really want to stock the etsy shop and have had NO time to do it. Or if I've had time I've spent it knitting or something lazy. I need some motivation and I have none right now. I had to start something new, which is why I dove into these gloves, because I wasn't even wanting to knit. It comes and goes in phases.

Ok well enough with the complaining. Basically I just need a few days I think to get back on track, which is good since I've got today and the next two days off from work. So hopefully I can get things fixed and up to date, and get things in order. (And knit mittens. Think I can finish mine by Sunday??? That's when I work again in the cold.)

So now I'm off to play a little catch up on school and then knit.

(P.S. I happened upon this book {while finding stuff for school I swear} and it's seriously cute. Here's the link: Dainty Undies. I think the little nighties and stuff are adorable.)

Monday, January 21, 2008

I'm off to bed but so proud I had to show off. I couldn't resist trying out a selbuvotter pattern and thought I'd start small (as in toddler sized). This is the first mitt, minus the thumb, which I completed in a lazy afternoon (due to a stiff neck, literally, I could not move or turn it...). Isn't it cute!? (First pic is closest to actual color.)More on the mitt tomorrow!

Sunday, January 20, 2008

The weather as of late has been unforgiving icy winds, and colder days than I think we've had in years. At least that's how they feel. Here are a few pics I took today. It snowed last night, not a lot but enough. It is mostly powder but combined with the wind, it made for nastiness.

This is one I took on the way home. The mountains in the distance are pretty.This is our driveway. See the drifts? At the end there they got so deep I almost got stuck.Dinner last night didn't go as planned. The place that was holding a table for us gave it away because we were five minutes late. Apparently you have only up to the time given to get there and not a minute later. It took a long while to get a seat anywhere else. There were only 7 of us total but that's enough to be a hassle apparently.

Here is a crappy pic, best I could get. Heather and Mikel are the two in the middle. He seems like a good guy, although I'm still not happy he's stealing her away.I got them presents but forgot to get pictures. For her daughter I got a doll, a really cute one. And for them I got a personalized picture frame with their names and wedding day on it. She was too busy crying and stuff to open them when I left, but I'm sure that she loved it.

I went to two yarn shops yesterday since I had time. One I only went to for the Dale of Norway baby Ull. They sell it cheap enough that I sucked it up and went. I actually got some help this time, and the lady I don't think I've seen there before was really nice. Anyway I got four colors to do two pairs of the Selbuvotter mitts. I'm still not sure what combinations I want but I'm thinking red and white, and black and pink. We'll see.Then I went up to the other shop to scope out yarn for sweaters. I didn't like the yarn I had picked out online, and realized I wasn't sure at all what I wanted. Soooo I got sock yarn instead. Here we have two skeins of Socks that Rock. One mediumweight and one heavyweight. The first is the med, and it's Love in Idleness. So pretty. I might make some of those mermaid mitts with it, that use the same stitch pattern as pomatomus. Not sure.The heavyweight I adore, especially the base, it's so nice. This is Chapman Springs. I bought it for a certain pattern but who knows. I just like to pet it...Ok well really I need to get to bed. It's late and I'm up super early as usual. Hopefully I'll make it out of the driveway...

Saturday, January 19, 2008

So that yarn I finished, well the second it was remotely close to dry enough, I wound it up and cast on. Here's the start of my Forest Canopy shawl. I am of course farther now. I like the striping effect that seems to happen with handspun. It's very cool. It's also a very fast knit on size 8 needles!See the leaves?I got some roving in the mail yesterday that I ordered from the last Pigeonroof update. It's GORGEOUS. I want to spin them now lol. They are both more S. African fine wool. After spinning the cornucopia, it grew on me and the softness is great.

This one is 4 ounces in the color Jester. Love this one so much.And this one is 3.7 ounces in Hydrangea. Seriously pretty.I also got some yarn I traded for. It's louet gems sportweight and I have two hanks in this size, of 225 yards each. Then there are two cones of around 500 yards each. So plenty to make a top or two with. I'm still thinking about it.Well that's all I've got for now. I have things to do today. My one good friend in the area is moving far away and we are going to have dinner later. I still have a gift to get her and something for her daughter, and I had plans to go to a yarn store. So we'll see what I get done, but now I need to go feed the kids and make some tea. I woke up with a sore throat and I'm hoping that I'm not going to get sick.

Wednesday, January 16, 2008

Isn't this a sight? I thought it was super cute so I grabbed the camera. She's been watching!All tangled in the yarn...My brother's hat I've been working on. It's not as bright as it looks. Apparently he's been complaining about the knit stuff I've sent my sister, and wants the hat already lol. I need to get to 5 inches before I can start the decreases, and it's taking f o r e v e r. Seriously. I'm at almost 4 here.Nothing else going on, just anxiously awaiting to hear if I got a loopy sock club spot although it looks as if we won't know until tomorrow. Until then!

Tuesday, January 15, 2008

Wow do I feel like I got a lot done today. It wasn't really much but it was enough to make it feel productive. First though, here's a picture of the Lace Mitt that I had finished but didn't get a picture of it with the hems sewn down and the ends woven in. I really like this one!When I got home I grabbed my Retro Rib sock and started working on it. I got up to the toe where you start to decrease last night. So it wasn't long before I finished that up! Here they are! I haven't taken them off since I finished them...oh...4 hours ago lol.Here's a little shot of my toes!!! Also worth mentioning is the fact that I still have over half a ball left of this yarn. I can get a whole nother pair of socks out of it!After that I fed the kids and got them in bed for naps and stuff, and set out to work on plying my two bobbins of singles. After an hour, maybe an hour and a half, I finished plying it and wound it off the bobbin. The result was a perfectly balanced skein of about 467 yards. Isn't it pretty???It's more orange than the pictures are showing but that's ok. I am happy with how it turned out. I'm also glad that it's a little bit thicker than the last roving I spun. I'm getting better! Here's a little closeup, a bit washed out from the lighting, but I like it.I've decided to knit the Forest Canopy with this. I ripped the seasilk version I was doing after I decided I didn't like it so much after all. I can't wait to knit with it!

Next up will be the Green Ocean superwash bfl, because I love to spin bfl and want superwash for socks. So that's my goal. Then after that I'm going to spin two of my pink rovings up for the Juno Regina stole/shawl on knitty. I think it will be great!

So lots of spinning in my future I think. And knitting too. I have to finish up a pair of mitts seriously, my hands are so cold in the mornings, and I lost the other pair I had...And my brother would like his hat sometime this winter...AND now that the Retro Rib socks are done I can cast on for the second Twisted Flower sock!

The last thing I did today was add those nifty Ravelry progress bars that you can see there on the left. Cool huh? I love the little picture of the project and I was able to get them working pretty easy. Thanks to some code from Casey (the Ravelry code monkey as he's affectionately called) and Rachel's help that is.

Ok well I think that's plenty for today. I will update more later when I've got something to report!

Sunday, January 13, 2008

So today I had a huge project ahead of me. That is, after I got home from work. I had to be there at 5am today since our quarterly meeting was this morning. Meaning I had to be there earlier and finish earlier. Yep so after that I came home and slept about an hour on the couch until lunch. Then after lunch I started moving things around. I had previously been keeping my computer on this table. Yep, seriously. See the left side where that light is shining. That's where it was. That pile,...yarn. Ok so under it there is a basket and ahem, my printer...but still.Now I am by no means and organized person but even that was bad for me. It makes it impossible to find anything or think straight. Anyway, we moved my desk from the bedroom, to another corner of the above room and here is where my computer sits now.Much better right? I think so too. I am slowly migrating important things onto this desk and clearing the table over there which will have a new home as well. I love moving furniture...

In other news I finally got pictures of the kids with the little bear hats my secret pal sent for them. They didn't keep them on long so this is the best I could do. I love the little curls sneaking out from Alexis' hat here.And Nick with his and a balloon I gave him to occupy for a bit last night.And in knitting news, well spinning anyway...I finished that first bobbin of the Cornucopia, and besides that I'm halfway through the second. If I wasn't cleaning today I could probably finish that one too. I will take another break later to spin a little, but right now when I'm in the mood it's better to keep cleaning.Aren't the colors pretty? This is more accurate than the other pictures I've posted. I really like it. The S. African fine is growing on me the more I spin it. That and I bought two more from Pigeonroof's etsy shop yesterday when she updated. And they are GORGEOUS. Seriously. I can't wait to get them. I know I know like I need more. I'm getting faster at spinning though, so hopefully I'll be using it up faster. Purchase justified right?

I'm glad everyone liked the pictures I posted of our deer. I wasn't actually that close to them. I was in the upstairs pantry window and zoomed in. There are quite a few of them though that are really friendly. We had a young doe last year who would eat out of our hands. Several follow my MIL around the yard. Like 2 feet behind her the whole time. It's fun, they are pretty to watch. I'll try and get fawn pictures in the spring. It's just the psychotic suicidal ones you gotta watch for when you're driving...

Ok well I think that's a good bit of an update for now. I'm busy lately with working early, and now school. I'm really trying to get back into good habits with that. Hopefully the fact that I've dropped to part time will help. So I'll be back when I can!